Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s “identity and message are threatened with distortion and collapse" due to the months-long deadlock over electing a new president, Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rai said Sunday. Speaking in his weekly sermon, he also urged for the repatriation of Syrian refugees.
According to the state-run National News Agency (NNA), Rai said that “due to the non-compliance [of Lebanon] with the content of the constitution, the non-application of the Taif Agreement ... the resolutions of international legitimacy, and because of the deliberate obstruction of the election of a president the public institutions have fallen one after the other.”
Rai thanked the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt, “for carrying the concern of Lebanon and its future much more than the Lebanese authorities who are devoted to demolition and sabotage,” as representatives of these countries met last Monday in Doha to discuss the Lebanese crisis.
After that meeting, the five countries said that they had discussed several measures against politicians and groups who were obstructing the election of a new president.
Rai has repeatedly called for an international conference on Lebanon, under the auspices of the United Nations, to end the presidential vacuum in place since Michel Aoun's term ended on Oct. 31.
Rai concluded by demanding “the return of the displaced Syrians to their country so that they are not another reason for distorting Lebanon’s identity and message.”
The government estimates that Lebanon currently hosts approximately 1.5 million refugees from Syria, including about 815,000 registered with the UN's refugee agency, UNHCR.
Human rights groups have repeatedly warned of the dangers and abuses faced by those who return to Syria, including detention and forced military conscription.